Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center Birth Injury Lawyers

This page is for families who welcomed a baby at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center, 9961 Sierra Avenue in Fontana, San Bernardino County, California, and who now have questions about a difficult delivery. Maybe your baby needed time in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Maybe a doctor mentioned low oxygen, a weak arm, a brain bleed or a delay in development. Maybe nothing was explained and you simply feel something is not right. Wanting answers is natural, and you do not have to wait for a diagnosis to start asking questions.

The hospital is operated by Kaiser Foundation Hospitals, a non-profit organization, and is part of Kaiser Permanente. According to the hospital's 2024 report to the state (HCAI), it cared for 3,495 newborns in its newborn nursery that year and is licensed for 28 intensive-care newborn beds, with 323 NICU discharges in 2024. Most births at any hospital go well. This page is not about what happened at this hospital. It is a plain-language guide to birth injuries in general, the warning signs, how an independent review works, and the steps a family can take to understand its options.

Nothing here is legal advice, and we do not suggest that anyone did anything wrong. A birth injury can come from many causes, and sometimes there is no one to blame. What matters is that you have clear information, your baby's records, and enough time to make good decisions. If you are a Kaiser member, a few special rules about how claims are handled may apply to you, and we explain them below.

Labor and delivery at Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center

Kaiser Permanente's own Fontana maternity pages show that labor and delivery is offered at the Fontana Medical Center. The hospital describes private labor rooms and private family-centered postpartum rooms, each with its own bathroom and shower. It lists a care team that may include certified nurse-midwives, obstetrician-gynecologists, maternal-fetal medicine specialists, neonatologists and anesthesiologists, and says an obstetrical team is available at the hospital around the clock.

The hospital's pages explain that, as long as mother and baby are doing well, they stay together. A baby who needs extra care is seen by a neonatologist, a pediatrician with special training in newborns, who decides whether the baby needs the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The hospital's website does not state a NICU level, so we do not give one here. According to the hospital's 2024 report to the state (HCAI), it is licensed for 28 intensive-care newborn beds and had 323 NICU discharges in 2024.

The same state report shows 3,495 newborns cared for in the newborn nursery in 2024. Fontana is in western San Bernardino County, and the hospital serves families from Fontana and the surrounding Inland Empire communities, many of them Kaiser Permanente members. For a family whose baby spent days in the NICU, those weeks can be a blur. Understanding what the unit does, and what your baby's chart records, is a good first step toward making sense of what happened.

Birth injuries families ask about after a difficult delivery

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is brain injury from a shortage of oxygen and blood flow around the time of birth. Causes described by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) include problems with the placenta or umbilical cord, a very low maternal blood pressure or a torn uterus. Newborns with HIE may be limp, may have seizures or trouble feeding, and are often moved to a NICU. Cerebral palsy is a group of lifelong movement and posture conditions caused by damage to, or abnormal development of, the developing brain. The NICHD and the Mayo Clinic both explain that in many children the exact cause is never found and that most brain damage happens before birth, although it can also occur during delivery or in early infancy.

Erb's palsy, also called brachial plexus birth palsy, is weakness of an arm caused when the nerves from the neck to the shoulder are stretched or torn during delivery. The Cleveland Clinic links it most often to shoulder dystocia, when a baby's shoulder is stuck behind the mother's pelvic bone, and reports that most of these injuries improve within the first year while a smaller number lead to lasting weakness. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) describes the range from a stretched nerve to a nerve pulled away from the spinal cord.

Other injuries families ask about include bleeding in or around the newborn brain, a broken collarbone (clavicle) or a skull fracture, and serious infections such as group B strep (GBS), which can pass from mother to baby and needs prompt treatment. Mothers can be hurt too. Heavy bleeding after birth (postpartum hemorrhage), infection or injury to the birth canal can have long effects on a mother's health. The Cleveland Clinic's birth-injury overview describes many of these conditions. None of this is a statement about any particular hospital. It is general medical background so that you know what the words in your baby's chart may mean.

Warning signs of a birth injury in the first days, weeks and months

In the first hours and days, signs that doctors take seriously include a baby who is very floppy or very stiff, does not cry or breathe well at first, has seizures, cannot latch or feed, has a weak or unequal cry, or does not move one arm or leg. A baby who needed breathing help, a cooling treatment or a long NICU stay may also be at higher risk for later problems. A swollen, bruised or misshapen head, or a collarbone that clicks or hurts when touched, should be checked.

In the weeks and months that follow, parents often notice things before anyone says a word: a baby who favors one hand, keeps fists tightly closed, arches the back, is unusually irritable or sleepy, has trouble swallowing, or does not follow faces and sounds. Missing milestones such as holding up the head, rolling over, sitting or reaching can be early clues of cerebral palsy or another brain-based condition. Some signs only become clear when a child is one or two years old.

You know your child best. If something worries you, write down the date and what you saw, take short videos and ask your pediatrician for a developmental referral. Early evaluation helps your child whatever the cause, and it also keeps a clear record. A diagnosis can come late, so it is never too early to ask questions about the delivery.

Who may be responsible in a birth-injury claim

A birth-injury claim looks at the decisions and actions of the people who cared for mother and baby, and more than one may be involved. Depending on the facts, that can include the obstetrician, a certified nurse-midwife, labor and delivery nurses who watch the fetal monitor, an anesthesiologist, the neonatology team that cared for the baby, and the hospital or medical group that employs or supervises them. Whether a person or group may be responsible depends on what the records show and whether the standard of care was met, and that is a question for medical experts.

Who employs a doctor matters. Some physicians are employees of the hospital or a medical group, while others are independent and work under their own practice. If your doctor did not work for the hospital, the claim may still be reviewed, but it may involve different parties and different insurance. At Kaiser Permanente, care is generally provided through a health plan and its affiliated medical group, which is one reason a family needs to understand who was involved before deciding how to proceed.

Having a claim reviewed is not the same as blaming anyone. Often the first question is simply whether the injury could have been prevented and, if not, what the child will need. Many families find that an independent review gives them a clear and honest answer, whichever it turns out to be.

How an independent expert review of the delivery works

An independent review begins with the complete records for mother and baby: prenatal care, the labor chart, the delivery notes and the NICU file. A nurse or physician reviewer builds a timeline of the delivery so that nothing is read out of order. The most important single item is often the fetal heart monitoring strip, the printed or electronic record of the baby's heart rate and the mother's contractions during labor. Experts read it for patterns and for how the care team responded to them.

Reviewers also study the Apgar scores, which rate a newborn's color, heart rate, reflexes, muscle tone and breathing at one and five minutes after birth, and the umbilical cord blood gas results, which show how much acid and oxygen were in the baby's blood at delivery. They look at the NICU notes, any cooling or breathing treatment, lab results and brain imaging such as an MRI, which can help show the type and timing of a brain injury.

Medical experts in obstetrics, neonatology, pediatric neurology and sometimes nursing then give an opinion on two questions: whether the care met accepted standards, and whether any departure actually caused the child's condition. They may also say that the injury had other causes. Only after that review can a family decide, with good information, whether to take any further step. An honest review can bring peace of mind even when it finds nothing to pursue.

What to do now after a difficult delivery: step by step

First, take care of your child. Keep every appointment, follow the treatment plan and ask questions until you understand the diagnosis. Second, begin a simple file: dates, names of specialists, photos and videos, bills, and a short diary of symptoms. Third, request the full medical records for you and your baby, including the labor and delivery chart, fetal monitoring strips, the NICU file and imaging. The records section below explains how.

Fourth, do not wait. California sets strict deadlines for birth-injury cases, and parents' own claims can run on a different and shorter clock than the child's. Claims against public hospitals have their own six-month claim rule, and Kaiser members' claims follow an arbitration process. Because the rules differ, the safest approach is to ask about timing early, even if you are not sure you want to move forward.

Fifth, talk with a birth-injury lawyer for an initial consultation, ideally before you sign any release or accept any offer from an insurer. Bring your file and your questions. Sixth, be careful what you post online and what you sign. And finally, give yourself some grace. This is a heavy time for any family, and reaching out for information is a sign of care for your child, not of conflict.

Support for your child and family while a case is reviewed

A legal review should never delay help for your child. Early intervention, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech and feeding therapy, vision and hearing checks, and specialist visits can start right away. Many children benefit from starting therapy in the first months of life, when the brain adapts most easily. Ask your pediatrician or specialist for referrals and keep copies of every report.

Children under age three with a developmental delay or a risk of one can be evaluated through California's Early Start program, which works through your regional center. In Fontana and San Bernardino County that is the Inland Regional Center. Older children may qualify for other regional center services and for help through their school district.

Medi-Cal and California Children's Services (CCS) can help pay for care for children with certain serious conditions, depending on the family's situation and the child's diagnosis. Eligibility is decided by the programs, so ask a social worker at your child's clinic. We cannot promise any result from a legal review, but we can say that support, information and a plan for your child's future are always worth seeking.

Kaiser members: arbitration instead of a jury

Kaiser Permanente works differently from most hospitals. Kaiser’s own member materials explain that members agree to binding arbitration instead of a jury or court trial for certain matters, that a member who believes their care was negligent can ask for binding arbitration, and that the arbitrator’s decision is binding on both the member and Kaiser Permanente. These arbitrations are run by a neutral Office of the Independent Administrator (oia-kaiserarb.com), not by Kaiser. For a family who delivered at a Kaiser hospital as Kaiser members, that usually means a birth-injury claim is decided by an arbitrator rather than a jury — and the claim still has to be started on time, so it is important not to wait.

Deadlines for a birth-injury claim in California

California gives a child’s birth-injury case its own deadline. Under Code of Civil Procedure § 340.5, a minor must sue within three years of the wrongful act, but a child who was under six when it happened has until his or her eighth birthday if that is longer. For a baby hurt during labor or delivery, that usually means the eighth birthday. The clock runs from the act itself, not from the day the family learned what went wrong, and it is paused only in narrow cases of fraud or collusion. Parents’ own claims, and claims against a public hospital, can have much shorter deadlines, so it is safer to get advice early.

California’s MICRA law limits one part of a medical malpractice recovery. Under Civil Code § 3333.2, as amended by AB 35, non-economic damages (pain, suffering, loss of enjoyment of life) are capped. In 2026 the cap is $470,000 for injury and $650,000 for wrongful death, and it rises every January 1 ($40,000 and $50,000 a year until 2033, then 2% a year). Separate caps can apply to doctors, hospitals and unaffiliated providers. Economic damages are not capped: lifetime medical care, therapy, equipment, home modifications and lost earning capacity can be recovered in full, and in a birth-injury case they are usually the largest part of the claim.

How to get the delivery records from Kaiser Permanente Fontana

California law gives families a right to these records. Under Health and Safety Code § 123110, a patient or the patient’s personal representative — for a baby, a parent or guardian (§ 123105) — may inspect the records within five working days of a written request and is entitled to a paper or electronic copy, which the provider must send within 15 days after receiving a request that says which records are wanted. For a birth-injury review, ask for both charts: the mother’s labor and delivery record, including the fetal heart rate monitoring strips, and the baby’s newborn and NICU record.

Kaiser Permanente handles medical-record requests through its Release of Information service, and the request page is on the Kaiser Permanente Southern California website (linked with this page). As a member you can request your own records and your baby's records through your kp.org account or the Kaiser app, and to send records to a third party such as an attorney you sign Kaiser's authorization to disclose health information form. Ask for the complete chart for mother and baby, including the labor and delivery record, the fetal monitoring strips, the newborn nursery and NICU records, and any imaging. California law gives parents a right to these records. A written request is best, and you should keep a copy and the date you sent it.

The hospital’s medical records page →

Where a case from Fontana would be filed

A civil case for serious injury in San Bernardino County is usually filed with the Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino. The court's Civil Division for the San Bernardino District is at the San Bernardino Justice Center, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415, and the court also lists a Fontana district courthouse and a Rancho Cucamonga civil division, so a lawyer will confirm the right filing location for your case. For families who delivered at a Kaiser hospital as Kaiser members, claims are usually decided through binding arbitration instead of a court trial, so the case may never be heard in a courthouse at all.

Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino – San Bernardino Justice Center (Civil Division) → — 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0210

Help for your child now: Early Start in San Bernardino County

Babies and toddlers under age three who have a developmental delay, or a condition likely to cause one, may qualify for California Early Start, early intervention through the regional centers overseen by the Department of Developmental Services. In Fontana and the rest of San Bernardino County, Early Start is provided through the Inland Regional Center, which lists an Early Start intake line for San Bernardino County at (909) 890-4711. Anyone, including a parent or a pediatrician, can ask for an evaluation, and you do not need a final diagnosis to ask. Call the intake line, say you are worried about your baby's development, and ask for an Early Start evaluation.

Inland Regional Center →

Key facts

Questions parents ask

Other San Bernardino County hospitals we cover

San Bernardino birth injury lawyers →

Related pages

Cerebral Palsy · Erb’s Palsy / Brachial Plexus Injury · HIE / Oxygen Deprivation at Birth · Statute of Limitations · MICRA Damages Cap · All California hospitals · California birth injury lawyers · Birth injury guides

Beverly Law is an independent law firm. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for Kaiser Permanente Fontana Medical Center or Kaiser Foundation Hospitals (Kaiser Permanente). Hospital facts on this page come from the public sources listed above.

Important: This page is general information about birth injuries and California law, not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship with Beverly Law. Every case is different — talk to a lawyer about your own situation. Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No fees or costs unless we win. Last reviewed: 2026-09-18.